White Sand Beach is one of Koh Chang’s most popular beaches. It’s the first beach you’ll encounter when travelling from the ferry pier along the island’s western coast. I’m not considering Koh Chang’s eastern side here, as the resort areas and best beaches are all located on the western coastline.
The eastern part isn’t particularly suitable for a beach holiday. Whatever western beach you’re heading to, you’ll pass White Sand first.
Beach Overview
The road to White Sand goes over quite a long mountain pass, and nearly half the beach remains hidden beneath the hills below. The road runs along the top, parallel to the sea and beach, and you’ll only get your first glimpse of the ocean at a small viewpoint before the road descends.
When you first arrive at White Sand, you might think you’ve reached the start of the beach, though you’re actually at the middle—the rest stretches behind you. However, there’s no infrastructure in that part under the mountain, so you’ll likely just walk there for swimming.
Facing the sea, the left section of White Sand lies between Kacha Resort and KC Grand Resort. This is the busiest, most well-known part of White Sand Beach, where you’ll find all the shops, cafĂ©s, and hotels on flat terrain that’s perfect for quick, affordable development.
Throughout this stretch, all the infrastructure borders the beach itself. This is virtually the only western beach on Koh Chang where there are no secondary parallel streets between the main road and sea—just perpendicular walkways to the water through the solid mass of buildings.
Left of Kacha Resort, stones gradually appear along the shore and the beach transitions from sandy and swimmable to rocky. Locals call this area Pearl Beach. The district continues along the coast for some distance, gradually merging into Klong Prao. There are hotels and resorts all along the main road, but you’ll need to walk to the sandy section for swimming.
Looking right from KC Grand Resort, you’ll find the most beautiful part of the beach tucked under the mountain. It’s absolutely gorgeous—don’t miss it! Further along towards the beach’s right end, you’ll encounter a rocky outcrop.
That’s not the end though! You can get past the rocks either through the water or via a little bridge through the cafĂ© and Rock Sand hotel.
Beyond these rocks begins what I call the “secret section” of White Sand. I’ve dubbed it secret, and it really is for some visitors—this part of the beach remains undiscovered due to the apparent dead end or simply because people can’t be bothered to go further.
There are very few people here. Another way to reach this area is down a secondary road whose turning is marked on the mountain pass, following signs to White Sand Beach Resort, which occupies the entire right end of the beach.
Swimming
Koh Chang doesn’t have the deepest beaches overall, and there are only two beaches where you can properly swim in deep water. White Sand, fortunately, is one of them. The left section is shallower—you’ll need to wade about 100 feet (30 metres) for depth.
It was convenient here with children. The middle is slightly deeper, and beyond the rocky outcrop on the right, where White Sand Beach Resort is located, the deepest water begins. You can walk about 10 feet (3 metres) into the sea and immediately have water up to your neck. The right end of White Sand is the deepest spot, though there are underwater rocks at the very edges.
Tides are quite pronounced, especially during high season. Low tide begins in the evening and the water recedes considerably—swimming becomes impossible. At the right section near Pearl Bungalows, this is less noticeable, but you’ll likely still feel the lack of water.
You can swim along the entire beach in the morning, except for the left rocky section. Though people do swim—nobody’s bothered by the lack of depth since you can splash about even when the water’s waist-deep. The left section, despite being shallow, is busy and always full of children.
The sand really is white, but it’s no Maldives. It’s white in the area closer to the hotel line—the further from the sea, the fluffier and lighter it gets. The beach strip from KC Grand Resort leftwards maintains its width at high tide, and that’s where you’ll find the proper white sand.
Right of KC Grand, the sand is noticeably greyer, both dry and wet. Put simply, at White Sand (which literally means “white sand”), there isn’t actually much truly white sand.
Sunbeds and Shade
There are plenty of trees along the entire beach—more in some places, fewer in others—which means plenty of shade too. But the freebie only lasts until about two o’clock, then the sun hits the island’s western side and shade remains only under umbrellas.
The left end has more leafy trees, whilst the right has more palms. There aren’t many swings, but there are some. Sunbeds are only available in front of hotel and resort areas.
Beach Photos
Amenities
Infrastructure covers the entire flat part of the district. There’s most of it in the beach’s middle section—under the mountain on the right, as I mentioned, there’s virtually nothing except a few hotels. Further left, a small hill begins and infrastructure starts thinning out.
A main road runs along the entire shore with hotels positioned between the road and coastline. This is where you’ll find banks, shops, an evening market with food stalls, Lotus mini-marts, the wholesale Makro hypermarket, and closer to the next beach, Klong Prao, there are Lotus and Big C hypermarkets plus a hospital.
White Sand Beach on Koh Chang is the most developed. If you need civilisation, this is your spot. That said, I wouldn’t call this area particularly crowded compared to Phuket. However, if you want proper seclusion, you’ll definitely need to move further along—perhaps to Lonely Beach or settle in White Sand’s right section under the mountain, though then it might be quite a trek to reach all the amenities (depending how far right you venture).
What I also like is this beach’s convenient location—from here you can head south along the western coast or south along the eastern coast. Remember, there’s no ring road around the island since they never connected the southern route. There are also loads of travel agencies here where you can book various excursions and tickets to Bangkok and Pattaya.
Right at the beginning, before descending to White Sand, there’s a viewpoint—though it’s not properly equipped. It’s essentially just a concrete lay-by where you can stop for a sea panorama. On the hill between White Sand and Klong Prao, there’s another viewpoint marked by a sign—mediocre coastal views in one direction only.
Accommodation
There are loads of hotels along the entire beach. Across the road they’re cheaper than beachfront, though beach access is virtually the same since the area’s quite compact. Essentially, all the district’s buildings here are simply stretched along the road and gradually merge into the Klong Prao beach area. There’s a small hill between White Sand and Klong Prao.
It’s easily walkable. You can stay at large resorts with extensive grounds and pools, or smaller hotels and bungalows of varying authenticity—from concrete luxury sea-view suites with glass panoramic walls to concrete-and-wood budget bungalows. There are even sea-view options amongst the cheaper places.
I’ve already mentioned the two most popular hotels here:
- Kacha Resort
- KC Grand Resort
Both are beachfront and open directly onto the shore. I stayed at Kacha Resort and generally loved everything—I can recommend it. Here’s my review.
I’d particularly note that hotels further left, near the rocky beach towards Klong Prao, are cheaper. There are beachfront options there too, but the beach isn’t swimmable. One such beachfront hotel is Penny’s Resort—quite popular, affordable, and quiet.
Don’t let the name put you off—it’s named after a person. I stayed behind the road at The White Elephant bungalows since there wasn’t much point being beachfront (here’s my review).
There’s also a decent hotel nearby called Keeree Ele Resort. Just remember you’ll need to walk about 10-20 minutes along the road to reach White Sand’s swimmable section.
How to Find the Beach
White Sand is closest to the ferry pier—it’s literally a 10-minute journey, and a songthaew (taxi) costs just 50 baht, making this the quickest and most convenient option.
You can access the beach through virtually any cafĂ© or resort—they’re all positioned on the beachfront. There’s also a separate entrance between KC Grand Resort and the 7-Eleven convenience store, which you’ll spot immediately upon descending from the mountain pass. The beach path runs alongside a stream.
